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Monday, August 13, 2007

This picture is only iconic, as Saturday sessions of the Bucky Group are held at Joo Hock's salon, Hair Affair. :)

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In this session, we discussed about what you should do if the whole world disagrees with you, while you are convinced that your thoughts and reasonings are sound.

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This week we watched a documentary about self-confidence by taking a glimpse into Socrates' life. Socrates was known to be a philosopher that will question the basic assumptions that most people would take for granted. He urges people to question even the commonsense that everyone takes for granted.

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For instance, many people would assume that one has to get married in order to be happy, failing to question if it is possible to have an unhappy married life.

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Like pottery, there are structured steps to take to arrive at clear thoughts and the results have to be watertight to withstand further arguments. With clear thoughts, we will develop independent thinking. This means, not yielding to majority vote, which Socrates criticised about in a democracy by votes.

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Obviously, there is a price to pay for independent thinking. In the case of Socrates, the price was his life. He was sentenced to death.

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After the movie, someone commented that religions are generally responsible for discouraging independent thinking. As in history, various other independent thinkers have been sentenced to death. Galileo, the one that propounded that the Earth is round, was put on life imprisonment by the Catholic church. He was lucky since he knew the Pope, his other independent minded friends were sentenced to death.

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However, we have to be mindful not to say sweeping statements like these. Much also depends on the religion and the religious leader. Brother Anthony de Mello is Catholic and he certainly has an independent mind and encourages others to be so. There are also instances of other Catholic priests that attend Buddhist retreats. So are the Sufis in Islam. They fiercely independent thinkers.

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Naturally, the discussions got a bit heated as we were touching on a sensitive topic. This reminds me of the angry man I used to be. Much of my anger has subsided. Incidents like these remind me to stay away from the dormant little angry man.

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Many times those days, I was very perturbed and then angered by mild thinking people with very weak substantiations in their reasonings trying to advise me to calm down in an argument. First, I was arguing the topic, not the other person and most people can't separate the two. Second, I was angry because they had yet to understand the point I was trying to put across. Even worse, they actually did not even bother listening.

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In fact, much of the time, they were unable to reason. Was it their fault? Were they conditioned not to think? Different people goes through different upbringing and many of them are not encouraged to think by their parents and even by their teachers. But am I arrogant to think that others are weaker mentally? Accusations can come flying that direction too! Then I was confused, as being arrogant is considered 'bad'. It was so distressful. But I later come to realise that, that's not the point. The point is in 'acceptance'.

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Once I understood that different people comes from different 'places', I accepted them. When I accepted them, I ceased to be angry. That was a real cure. It saves me so much energy since. :).

But will anarchy reign when a nation comprises so many independent thinkers? Can you rule over independent thinkers?

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I think politicians like us to believe through fear that anarchy will reign if we all are able to think. I beg to differ on this point. If everyone can think clearly, there will be no danger of anarchy. Anarchy reign when people are unable to think clearly and are instead swayed by emotions, often manipulated by politicians.

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As to why we tend to have stupid politicians, read the next post on "Buck Group 6 - Specialisation".

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About Me

It is a privilege to be an actor, and a working one at that, as how many people really gets to live their passion everyday?
An actor works to a script. A good actor works to bring a script alive - so that the result can both entertain and inspire. My background as an entrepreneur, a technologist, a security consultant, a father, a soldier and a community volunteer, who has experienced financial highs and lows while living in Europe, Australia, Africa and Asia for many years, has helped me to naturally understand and get into character with empathy and compassion.
A script is a fantasy and the actor re-enacts that fantasy, even if it is a true story or biography. It is a fantasy because eventually, we are displaying a multi-dimensional world into a 2D (or even 3D) camera in limited timeframe. A limited time to tell a story that sometimes stretches into eternity.
My blogs help me to connect with people about my stints as an actor and a security specialist helping banks to outwit hackers around the world and my reflections about them. Like a good movie, I will endeavour to write to both entertain and inspire.

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Anyone can join the Bucky Group. There are no pre-requisites, no formal memberships nor fees to pay, but just the receptivity to life long learning and fun. The Group meets every Saturday and Sunday, and has been doing since 1995.